


the lord's name in vain

by elenathehun



Series: This Is A Different Story (The Legendary Three Remix) [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-27
Updated: 2011-09-27
Packaged: 2017-10-24 02:13:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/257748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elenathehun/pseuds/elenathehun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The final break is not pretty, and even Sakura walks away with scars.  At least hers are on the outside.  A prequel, of sorts, to 'the world as it should be'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the lord's name in vain

_Some years before Sasuke killed the Hokage…_   


* * *

“Can someone who can’t save even one of his friends become Hokage? What do _you_ think, Sakura-chan?”

At this point, Hanabi decides to intervene. There’s an ugly undercurrent to what Naruto just said, and Sakura is beyond pulling her punches. One step forward, then three precise chakra-enchanced jabs, and Sakura’s right arm is disabled from the shoulder down. Her punch hits Naruto in the face a split second later, but the only thing that’s broken are the bones of her hand. Sakura doesn’t even flinch.

As usual, Naruto is unharmed.

“Naruto,” she says, something hard and unyielding in her face. “Are you really going to break all your promises?”

Naruto just laughs, and it’s a hollow sound. Hanabi would wince if she wasn’t so used to it. “I’ve already broken them, Sakura.”

The woman just shakes her head disbelievingly, and Hanabi wonders if she was always this stubborn, or if being teammates with a madman and a demon made her this way. “That’s not true! How can you say that? Sasuke is still out there! Tsunade is waiting! And what about-”

This time, Hanabi isn’t fast enough, and the full force of Naruto’s hand slams into Sakura’s face. There’s the wet crunching sound that indicates something’s been broken, and Hanabi knows it’s not Naruto. Sakura’s pretty face is marred by a smashed cheekbone now. Hanabi would be surprised if the woman could still talk, medicnin or no…

Yet talk she does, spitting out the words as though they’re needles – “What about Neji?” - and at that, Hanabi breaks her silence.

“How dare you bring up my family,” is all she says, but it’s enough. In those words are all the frustration and anger and grief she’s been holding back for the last year, and this, finally, makes Sakura step back. Hanabi doesn’t care if this woman is the right hand of the Hokage and the foremost medic in the Five Countries, she has _no right_ to use her family’s troubles in this way.

But Sakura steps back only once before stopping. She looks straight into Naruto’s eyes and Hanabi is sure she’s going to say the unsayable thing, the one sentence that Naruto will kill her for – but she doesn’t. Even Sakura has some self-preservation, apparently.

“I believed in you.”

Naruto just walks away, and Hanabi hurries after, leaving Sakura behind them in the forest, bleeding and broken, but still alive. The sentence she didn’t say hangs around Hanabi’s head, but she pushes it aside. Naruto is her family now.

There’s only one unsealed Hyuuga alive in the world today. Naruto has never promised to keep her alive, but Hanabi believes in him nonetheless.

**Author's Note:**

> Another piece of backstory in this series, where Naruto disappoints everybody, but no one more than himself himself, and Sakura does not give up. Also, Hanabi is introduced as Shizune to Naruto's Tsunade, with all that implies...
> 
> Originally posted on livejournal 25 Jun 2009.


End file.
